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THE TRYAL 

OF 

William T*enn ^ William z^^itead 



!■»»•- 



THE TRYAL 

OF 

William Tenn ^William <J}(Cead 

FOR 

CAUSING A TUMULT 

<LAt the SESSIONS held at the OLD BAILEY 

in LONDON 

the 1ST, 3D, 4TH, and 5TH <?/' SEPTEMBER 

1670 



T>one by Themsehes 

TRANSCRIBED /r(7;w the COMPLEAT COLLECTION 

of ^T ATE TRYALS 

FIRST PUBLISHED IN I7I9 and EDITED by 

DON C. SEITZ 



-^f^ 



'Boston 
MARSHALL JONES COMPANY 

MD CCCC XIX 



COPYRIGHT, I 919 
BY MARSHALL JONES COMPANY 



All rig/its reser'ved 



THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. 



©CU.530173 

JUL I4!dia 



To the <J^emory 

OF 

THOMAS JEFFERSON 

WHICH NEEDS FREQUENT 
REFRESHING 



FOREWORD 

ERTY, Equality and Fraternity have 
been preached through all time but 
it was left for William Penn, the 
Quaker, to come nearer establishing the 
ideal of this Trinity than any other being 
called Human before or since his day. 

It may be argued that more was due to 
the Faith he held than to the Man. Yet 
this must be answered that it took some more 
than ordinary Man to absorb and fulfill the 
requirements of such a Faith. There have 
been many Quakers and but one Penn! 

Born on the 15th of October, 1644, in the 
angry days of the Roundhead Revolt, his 
early years were spent in an intensely re- 
ligious atmosphere that saturated his soul, 
but at the same time bred detestation of 
bigotry and persecution. If he seemed to 
be performing out of his class because of 
his family's eminence, it should be recalled 
that this was acquired, not inherited. His 
father. Admiral Sir William Penn, was the 
son of Giles Penn, a merchant navigator 
trading into the Mediterranean, and his 

[vii] 



FOREWORD 

wife Margaret Jasper, daughter of Hans 
Jasper, a sea trader of Rotterdam: From 
these forbears the youth received inde- 
pendence of thought and firmness of mind. 
He was therefore less of an anomaly than 
he appeared to be. 

The rigid religious rule of Cromwell, 
under which he had spent his youthful 
years, had passed and in its stead befell a 
period of loose living and easy ways. Puri- 
tanism, though speaking and acting in the 
name of Liberty, possessed but little of that 
quality either for mind or body. In setting 
up for the great cause he fared as well, or 
better, with all his persecutions, than did 
his Quaker brethren in that New England 
which had been founded for opinion's sake. 

Entering Oxford at fifteen the boy soon 
fell under the influence of Thomas Loe, a 
preacher of Quaker doctrine and became 
imbued with his teachings. This clashed 
at once with his surroundings and the Col- 
lege requirements. He refused to attend 
chapel or to wear the customary gown, 
deeming it a sort of surplice. A little group 
of students who had accepted Loe's prin- 
ciples joined him in this obduracy, going so 
far as to strip the gowns from the persons 

[ vlii ] 



FOREWORD 

of willing wearers. This led to his ex- 
pulsion. 

Samuel Pepys mentions him in his diary 
on October 31st, 1661, as having ''but come 
from Oxford" and meeting his father at 
Pepys' house. On the 25th of January, 
1662, the Admiral discussed with Pepys a 
plan for sending his son to Cambridge or 
some private college. Pepys undertook to 
write Dr. Fairbrother and inquire into the 
merits of Hezekiah Burton at Magdalen, 
as an instructor for the difficult youth. It 
was impossible to fit him into any school 
under the dominion of the Church of Eng- 
land and in wrath his father forbade him 
the house. His mother interceded, with 
the result that he was sent to Europe for 
the grand tour, presumably with outward 
success, for on August 6, 1664, Mrs. Pepys 
informs Samuel that "Mr. Pen, Sir Wil- 
liam's son, is come back from France and 
come to visit her. A most modish person, 
grown, she says, a fine gentleman." 

After dinner on the 30th of the same 
month ''comes Mr. Pen to visit me, and 
staid an hour talking with me. I perceive 
something of learning he has got, but a 
great deal, if not too much of the vanity of 

[fx] 



FOREWORD 

the French garb and affected manner of 
speech and gait. I fear all real profit he 
hath made of his travel will signify little." 

The home coming soon stripped Penn of 
the ^Wanity of the French garb," and he 
became once more a problem. He tried the 
study of law, but could not interest himself 
in it. To keep him out of the way and re- 
press his dangerous thoughts he was given 
the management in 1665, of an estate owned 
by the Admiral in Ireland, where he went 
and did as he pleased, falling in again with 
Thomas Loe and resuming his Quaker 
views. December 29th, 1667, Pepys records 
a call from Mrs. Turner "... and there, 
among other talk, she tells me that Mr. 
William Pen, who is lately come over from 
Ireland, is a Quaker again, or some very 
melancholy thing; that he cares for no com- 
pany, nor comes into any; which is a pleas- 
ant thing, after his being abroad so long, and 
his father such a hypocritical rogue and at 
this time an Atheist." 

This return he signalized by intense ac- 
tivity in pressing Quakerism upon the pub- 
lic, to the vexation of his father who was 
one of the notables of England, as Admiral 
both under Cromwell and the King. He 

[X] 



FOREWORD 

had commanded the fleet of the Lord Pro- 
tector which wrested the rich Island of 
Jamaica from Spain and as one of the three 
commissioners of the Navy, laid the foun-. 
dation for that British fleet which has ever 
since played so large a part in the history 
of the world. He was the practical man of 
the commission, from whom James, Duke 
of York, afterwards, and very briefly King, 
took most of his advice. He reformed the 
higgledy-piggledy naval tactics of the time 
and taught the commanders to attack the 
enemy in line, the most important change in 
the sea annals of his country. Knighted in 
1665 for service against the Dutch he failed 
of the peerage because of the public preju- 
dice against his son, which deterred the 
King from giving him an honor as high 
as he deserved. As Clerk of the Acts, 
Pepys was much in contact with him so- 
cially and officially. The famous diary teems 
with references, many of them convivial, 
others most unkind. He was faithful to 
the* commonwealth as long as it was faithful 
to itself. Perceiving that it could not hold 
together after the death of Cromwell he 
joined with George Monk in bringing about 
the restoration of the Stuarts. 

[xl] 



FOREWORD 

Against this background of paternal dis- 
tinction, the young reformer shone invidi- 
ously and brought his father great chagrin 
by his association with carpenters and weav- 
ers in their non-conformist agitations. He 
preached in poor halls and in the streets. 
The newspaper, not having arrived, he took 
to pamphleteering to spread his doctrines. 
This activity reached a crisis in 1669. Writ- 
ing in his diary under date of February 12, 
1669, Pepys says: ^' . . . Felling hath got 
me W. Fen's book against the Trinity. I 
got my wife to read it to me; and I find it 
so well writ as, I think, it is too good for 
him ever to have writ it, and it is a serious 
sort of book not fit for everybody to read." 

The extended title of this work was '^ The 
Sandy Foundation Shaken — or those . . . 
Doctrines of one God subsisting in three 
distinct and separate persons; the impos- 
sibility of God's pardoning persons by an 
imputative refuted from the authority of 
scripture testimonies and right reason," etc. 

It was a drastic review of the doctrine 
of the Trinity and as the title implies, un- 
dertook to prove that the majestic edifice 
of the State Church was not founded upon 
a rock. It created much excitement and 

[xli] 



FOREWORD 

speedily landed its author in the Tower. 
Here he remained nine months, unrepentant 
and writing more pious sedition, to wit: 
''No Cross No Crown," and ''Innocency 
With Her Open Face." These were further 
polemics against Episcopacy. 

The King having no heart for persecu- 
tion, and the Duke of York, who was a firm 
friend, contrived to have the prisoner re- 
leased on the 4th of August and turned over 
to his father to be transported to some spot 
where he would be less troublesome. This 
plan was not seriously carried out. Indeed 
the Admiral's days were numbered. He 
died after a year's illness, on the i6th of 
September, 1670. 

Penn's prominence and influence in- 
creased with the death of his father. It 
was plain that no ordinary mind directed 
his actions. Respect followed. He took 
much part in public matters and as umpire 
in a dispute between Fenwick and Byllinge, 
two Quakers, over some land rights in New 
Jersey, he developed an interest in the New 
World and planned to found in it a place 
of refuge for those persecuted in Old and 
New England for opinion's sake. This de- 
sire was readily carried out. By fortunate 
[ xiif ] 



FOREWORD 

chance the Crown owed Admiral Penn's 
estate some $80,000. To pay this debt and 
be rid of an agitator, the shrewd King 
made an easy adjustment in 1681 by hand- 
ing over to the heir a vast province between 
the Delaware and the Ohio, in return for 
an annual tribute of two beaver skins, to 
be paid for ninety-nine years. 

Here the idealist created his elysium and 
came as close to making one as the curious 
animal he sought to benefit would permit. 
The King set forth in writing the Grant that 
it was due " the memory and merits of Sir 
William Penn in divers services, and par- 
ticularly his conduct, courage and discre- 
tion under our dearest brother, James, Duke 
of York, in that signal battle and victory 
fought and obtained against the Dutch fleet 
commanded by the Heer Van Opdam, in 

1665." 

Not to be outdone by his Royal brother, 
James threw in the Province of Delaware 
to which he held the fee, " out of a special 
regard to the memory and many faithful 
and eminent services heretofore performed 
by the said Sir William Penn to his Majesty 
and Royal Highness." This under date of 
August 2 1 St, 1682. 

[ xiV ] 



FOREWORD 

It was Penn's purpose to call his Paradise 
Sylvania, because of its wooded vales, but 
the King, with his obligation to the Admiral 
well in mind neatly prefixed ^' Penn" to the 
fanciful selection and it became justly and 
rightly ^^Pennsylvania" not in memory of 
William, but of his valiant father. 

Charles II was an able politician and 
understood human nature. Often accused 
of ingratitude and seldom deserving the 
charge, with a willingness to perform a 
good action as readily as a bad one, he 
acted perhaps in languid memory of the 
mistake made by his heedless father when 
he stayed the departure of Cromwell for 
the New World, where he had resolved to 
go ^' and never see England more," — de- 
termining that there should be no repeti- 
tion of history so far as he was concerned 
by repressing a zealot in narrow quarters 
near home. 

Thus Charles for once at least, belied the 
couplet scrawled upon his chamber door 
by the ribald Earl of Rochester: 

Here lies our sovereign lord the King 
Whose word no man relies on; 

He never says a foolish thing 
Nor ever does a wise one. 

[XV] 



FOREWORD 

His sayings, Charles aptly replied, were 
his own ; his acts those of his ministers. He 
ordered well indeed when he placed Penn 
where he did in the New World and he 
meant wisely when he decreed that the red 
races should possess, free and forever, the 
lands beyond the Alleghanies. With Penn's 
venture we need have no more to do than 
to recall that so long as his control lasted 
or his wishes extended, the Pennsylvania 
Indians and their cousins of New York and 
Ohio, were at peace with the whites; that 
his words and those of his agents were 
trusted; that Pennsylvania sheltered the 
persecuted Palatines and that the Liberty 
Bell first rang in the city he had named 
Philadelphia — the City of Brotherly Love! 

The Trial here recited began in London, 
on the first of September, 1670, a fortnight 
before his father's death, while the dis- 
turbance of which it was the outgrowth, 
occurred on the fourth of August preceding. 

The text is repeated from the report 
embedded in the second volume of the 
four great folios, comprising ^' A Compleat 
Collection of State Tryals," covering the 
period of English justice and injustice from 
the reign of King Henry the Fourth to 

[xvi] 



FOREWORD 

the end of that of Anne, printed for six 
venturesome London booksellers, Timothy 
Goodwin, John Walthoe, Benjamin Tooke, 
John Darby, Jacob Tonson, and John 
Walthoe, Junior, in 1719, where is found 
this first record of a legal effort to punish 
free speech among the English race — and 
by the same token to vindicate it. Re- 
ported by the accused, it no less reads 
fair. The '^Observer" whose comments 
interlard and conclude the ^'Tryal" was 
Penn. It was a rare proceeding in which 
both prisoners and jury ended up in jail for 
their obduracy in maintaining that right to 
speak as we may, which is still one of the 
most difficult to maintain, and yet remains 
the foundation of human liberty. 

D. C. S. 

Cos Cob, Conn., 
March 15, 1919. 



[ xvii ] 



THE TRYAL of William Penn and 

William Mead, at the Sessions held at 
the Old Baily in London, the 1st, jd, 
4th, and ^th of September, idjo. Done 
by themselves. 

PRESENT 

Sam. Starling, Mayor Richard Ford, Alder- 

Tho. Howel, Recorder. man. 

Tho. Bloodworth, Joseph Shelden, Alder- 

Alderm. man. 

William Peak, Alderm. John Smith, ) «, .„ 

John Robinson, James Edwards,) ^^^u^- 

Alderm. Richard Browne. 

Cryer. O Yes, Thomas Veer, Edward Bushel, 
John Hammond, Charles Milson, Gregory Walklet, 
John Brightman, William Plumsted, Henry Henley, 
Thomas Damask, Henry Michel, William Lever, 
John Baily. 

The Form of the OATH. 

^^ You shall well and truly Try, and true 
" Deliverance make betwixt our Sovereign 
*^Lord the King, and the Prisoners at the 
" Bar, according to your Evidence. So 
'' help you God.'' 

That William Penn, Gent, and William 
[I] 



THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 

Mead, late of London, Linnen-Draper, with 
divers other Persons to the Jurors unknown, 
to the Number of 300, the 14th Day of 
August, in the 22d Year of the King, about 
Eleven of the Clock in the Forenoon, the 
same Day, with Force and Arms, &c. in 
the Parish of St. Bennet Gracechurch in 
Bridge-Ward, London^ in the Street called 
Gracechurch-Street, unlawfully and tu- 
multuously did Assemble and Congregate 
themselves together, to the Disturbance of 
the Peace of the said Lord the King: And 
the aforesaid William Penn and William 
Mead, together with other Persons to the 
Jurors aforesaid unknown, then and there 
so Assembled and Congregated together; 
the aforesaid William Penn, by Agreement 
between him and William Mead before 
made, and by Abetment of the aforesaid 
William Mead, then and there, in the open 
Street, did take upon himself to Preach 
and Speak, and then and there did Preach 
and Speak unto the aforesaid William 
Mead, and other Persons there, in the 
Street aforesaid, being Assembled and Con- 
gregated together, by Reason whereof a 
great Concourse and Tumult of People in 
the Street aforesaid, then and there, a long 
[2] 



AND WILLIAM MEAD 

time did remain and continue, in contempt 
of the said Lord the King, and of his Law, 
to the great Disturbance of his Peace; to 
the great Terror and Disturbance of many 
of his Leige People and Subjects, to the ill 
Example of all others in the like Case 
Offenders, and against the Peace of the said 
Lord the King, his Crown and Dignity. 

What say you, William Penn and Wil- 
liam Mead^ are you Guilty, as you stand 
indicted, in Manner and Form, as afore- 
said, or Not Guilty? 

Penn. It is impossible, that we should 
be able to remember the Indictment ver- 
batim, and therefore we desire a Copy of it, 
as is customary in the like Occasions. 

Recorder. You must first plead to the 
Indictment, before you can have a Copy 
of it. 

Pen. I am unacquainted with the For- 
mality of the Law, and therefore, before 
I shall answer directly, I request two Things 
of the Court. First, that no Advantage may 
be taken against me, nor I deprived of any 
Benefit, which I might otherwise have re- 
ceived. Secondly, that you will promise 
me a fair hearing, and liberty of making 
my Defence. 

[3] 



THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 

Court. No Advantage shall be taken 
against you; you shall have Liberty; you 
shall be heard. 

Pen. Then I plead Not guilty in Man- 
ner and Form. 

Clerk. What sayest thou, William 
Mead, art thou Guilty in Manner and 
Form, as thou standest indicted, or Not 
guilty? 

Mead. I shall desire the same Liberty 
as is promised William Penn. 

Court. You shall have it. 

Mead. Then I plead Not guilty in 
Manner and Form. 

The Court adjourn'd until the Afternoon. 

Cryer. O Yes, &c. 

Cler. Bring William Penn and Wil- 
liam Mead to the Bar. 

Observ. The said Prisoners were 
brought, but were set aside, and other 
Business prosecuted. Where we cannot 
choose but observe, that it was the constant 
and unkind Practices of the Court to the 
Prisoners, to make them wait upon the 
Trials of Felons and Murderers, thereby 
designing, in all probability, both to affront 
and tire them. 

[4] 



AND WILLIAM MEAD 

After five Hours Attendance, the Court 
broke up and adjourned to the third Instant. 

The third of September 1670, the Court 
sate. 

Cryer. O Yes, &c. 

Cler. Bring William Penn and Wil- 
liam Mead to the Bar. 

Mayor. Sirrah, who bid you put off 
their Hats? Put on their Hats again. 

Obser. Whereupon one of the Officers 
putting the Prisoners Hats upon their 
Heads (pursuant to the Order of the 
Court) brought them to the Bar. 

Record. Do you know where you are? 

Pen. Yes. 

Record. Do not you know it is the 
King's Court? 

Pen. I know it to be a Court, and I 
suppose it to be the King's Court. 

Record. Do you not know there is Re- 
spect due to the Court? 

Pen. Yes. 

Record. Why do you not pay it then? 

Pen. I do so. 

Record. Why do you not pull off your 
Hat then? 

[5] 



THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 

Pen. Because I do not believe that to 
be any Respect. 

Record. Well, the Court sets forty 
Marks a piece upon your Heads, as a Fine 
for your Contempt of the Court. 

Pen. I desire it might be observed, that 
we came into the Court with our Hats off 
(that is, taken ofif) and if they have been 
put on since, it was by Order from the 
Bench ; and therefore not we, but the Bench 
should be fined. 

Mead. I have a Question to ask the Re- 
corder. Am I fined also? 

Record. Yes. 

Mead. I desire the Jury, and all People 
to take notice of this Injustice of the Re- 
corder; who spake to me to pull ofif my 
Hat? and yet hath he put a Fine upon my 
Head. O fear the Lord, and dread his 
Power, and yield to the Guidance of his 
Holy Spirit, for he is not far from every 
one of you. 

. The Jury sworn again. 

Obser. /. Robinson, Lieutenant of the 

Tower, disingenuously objected against — — 

Bushel, as if he had not kiss'd the Book, and 

therefore would have him sworn again; 

[6] 



AND WILLIAM MEAD 

tho' indeed it was on purpose to have made 
use of his Tenderness of Conscience in 
avoiding reiterated Oaths, to have put him 
by his being a Jury-man, apprehending him 
to be a Person not fit to answer their Ar- 
bitrary Ends. 

The Clerk read the Indictment, as afore- 
said. 

Clerk. Cryer, Call James Cook into 
the Court, give him his Oath. 

Clerk. James Cookj lay your Hand 
upon the Book. 

The Evidence you shall give to the Court, 
betwixt our Sovereign the King, and the 
Prisoners at the Bar, shall be the Truth, 
and the whole Truth, and nothing but the 
Truth. So help you God. 

Cook. I was sent for, from the Ex- 
change^ to go and disperse a Meeting in 
Gracechurch-Street^ where I saw Mr. Penn 
speaking to the People, but I could not 
hear what he said, because of the Noise; 
I endeavoured to make way to take him, 
but I could not get to him for the Crowd of 
People; upon which Capt. Mead came to 
[7] 



THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 

me, about the Kennel of the Street, and 
desired me to let him go on; for when 
he had done, he would bring Mr, Penn 
to me. 

Court. What Number do you think 
might be there? 

Cook. About three or four Hundred 
People. 

Court. Call Richard Read, give him 
his Oath. 

Read being sworn was ask'd, what do you 
know concerning the Prisoners at the Bar? 

Read. My Lord, I went to Gracechurch- 
Street, where I found a great Crowd of 
People, and I heard Mr. Penn preach to 
them; and I saw Capt. Mead speaking to 
Lieutenant Cook, but what he said, I could 
not tell. 

Mead. What did William Penn say? 

Read. There was such a great Noise, 
that I could not tell what he said. 

Mead. Jury, observe this Evidence, He 
saith he heard him Preach, and yet faith, 
he doth not know what he said. 

Jury, take notice, he swears now a clean 

contrary thing to what he swore before the 

Mayor when we were committed : For now 

he swears that he saw me in Gracechurch- 

[8] 



AND WILLIAM MEAD 

Street, and yet swore before the Mayor, 
when I was committed, that he did not see 
me there. I appeal to the Mayor himself, 
if this be not true. But no Answer was 
given. 

Court. What Number do you think 
might be there? 

Read. About four or five hundred. 

Penn. I desire to know of him what 
Day it was? 

Read. The 14th Day of August. 

Pen. Did he speak to me, or let me 
know he was there; for I am very sure I 
never saw him. 

Cler. Cryer, call into the 

Court. 

Cler. Give him his Oath. 

My Lord, I saw a great Number of 

People, and Mr. Penn I suppose was speak- 
ing; I see him make a Motion with his 
Hands, and heard some Noise, but could 
not understand what he said. But for Capt. 
Mead, I did not see him there. 

Rec. What say you, Mr. Mead, were 
you there? 

' Mead. It is a Maxim in your own Law, 

Nemo tenetur accusare seipsum^ which if it 

be not true Latin, I am sure it is true Eng- 

[9] 



THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 

lish, That no Man is bound to accuse him- 
self : And why dost thou offer to ensnare 
me with such a Question? Doth not this 
shew thy Malice? Is this like unto a Judge, 
that ought to be Counsel for the Prisoner 
at the Bar? 

Rec. Sir, hold your Tongue, I did not 
go about to ensnare you. 

Pen. I desire we may come more close 
to the Point, and that Silence be commanded 
in the Court. 

Cry. O yes, all manner of Persons keep 

Silence upon Pain of Imprisonment 

Silence Court. 

Pen. We confess our selves to be so far 
from recanting, or declining to vindicate 
the Assembling of our selves to Preach, 
Pray, or Worship the Eternal, Holy, Just 
God, that we declare to all the World, that 
we do believe it to be our indispensable 
Duty, to meet incessantly upon so good an 
Account; nor shall all the Powers upon 
Earth be able to divert us from reverencing 
and adoring our God who made it. 

Brown. You are not here for worship- 
ping God, but for breaking the Law; you 
do yourselves a great deal of Wrong in 
going on in that Discourse. 

[lO] 



AND WILLIAM MEAD 

Pen. I affirm I have broken no Law, 
nor am I guilty of the Indictment that is 
laid to my Charge; and to the End the 
Bench, the Jury, and my self, with these that 
hear us, may have a more direct Under- 
standing of this Procedure, I desire you 
would let me know by what Law it is you 
prosecute me, and upon what Law you 
ground my Indictment. 

Rec. Upon the Common Law. 

Pen. Where is that Common Law? 

Rec. You must not think that I am able 
to run up so many Years, and over so many 
adjudged Cases, which we call Common 
Law, to answer your Curiosity. 

Pen. This Answer I am sure is very 
short of my Question, for if it be Common, 
it should not be so hard to produce. 

Rec. Sir, will you plead to your In- 
dictment? 

Pen. Shall I plead to an Indictment 
that hath no Foundation in Law? If it 
contain that Law you say I have broken, 
why should you decline to produce that 
Law, since it will be impossible for the 
Jury to determine, or agree to bring in 
their Verdict, who have not the Law pro- 
duced, by which they should measure the 

[II] 



THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 

Truth of this Indictment, and the Guilt, or 
contrary of my Fact? 

Rec. You are a sawcy Fellow, speak to 
the Indictment. 

Pen. I say, it is my place to speak to 
Matter of Law; I am arraign'd a Prisoner; 
Obser. At this time ^y Liberty which is next 

several upon the tO Life it Self, IS nOW COn- 

Bench urged hard ccrncd : You are many 
upon the Prisoner Mouths and Ears against 

to bear him down, i • r t i 

me, and if I must not be 
allowed to make the best of my Case, it is 
hard. I say again, unless you shew me, and 
the People, the Law you ground your In- 
dictment upon, I shall take it for granted 
your Proceedings are meerly Arbitrary. 

Rec. The Question is, whether you are 
guilty of this Indictment? 

Pen. The Question is not whether I am 
guilty of this Indictment, but whether this 
Indictment be legal. It is too general and 
imperfect an Answer, to say it is the Com- 
mon Law, unless we knew both where, and 
what it is : For where there is no Law, there 
is no Transgression; and that Law which is 
not in being, is so far from being Common, 
that it is no Law at all. 

Rec. You are an impertinent Fellow, 

[12] 



AND WILLIAM MEAD 

will you teach the Court what Law is? 
It's Lex non scripta, that which many have 
studied thirty or forty Years to know, and 
would you have me to tell you in a Moment? 

Pen. Certainly, if the Common Law 
be so hard to be understood, it's far from 
being very Common; but if the Lord Cook^ 
in his Institutes^ be of any Consideration, 
he tells us. That Common Law is Common 
Right, and that Common Right is the Great 
Charter-Privileges: Confirmed 9 Hen. 3. 
29. 25 Edw. I. I. 2 Edw. 3. 8. Cook 
Instit. 2 p. 56. 

Rec. Sir, you are a troublesome Fellow, 
and it is not for the Honour of the Court 
to suffer you to go on. 

Pen. I have asked but one Question, 
and you have not answer'd me; tho' the 
Rights and Privileges of every Englishman 
be concerned in it. 

Rec. If I should suffer you to ask Ques- 
tions till to Morrow Morning, you would 
be never the wiser. 

Pen. That is according as the Answers 
are. 

Rec. Sir, we must not stand to hear you 
talk all Night. 

Pen. I design no Affront to the Court, 
[13] 



THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 

but to be heard in my just Plea : And I must 
plainly tell you, that if you will deny me 
Oyer of that Law, which you suggest I have 
broken, you do at once deny me an acknowl- 
edged Right, and evidence to the whole 
World your Resolution to sacrifice the 
Privileges of Englishmen to your sinister 
and Arbitrary Designs. 

Rec. Take him away. My Lord, if 
you take not some Course with this pestilent 
Fellow, to stop his Mouth, we shall not be 
able to do any thing to Night. 

Mayor. Take him away, take him away, 
turn him into the Bale-dock. 

Pen. These are but so many vain Ex- 
clamations; is this Justice or true Judg- 
ment? Must I therefore be taken away be- 
cause I plead for the Fundamental Laws of 
England? However, this I leave upon your 
Consciences, who are of the Jury (and my 
sole Judges) that if these Ancient Funda- 
mental Laws, which relate to Liberty and 
Property, and (are not limited to particular 
Persuasions in Matters of Religion) must 
not be indispensibly maintained and ob- 
served. Who can say he hath Right to the 
Coat upon his Back? Certainly our Liber- 
ties are openly to be invaded, our Wives 
[14] 



AND WILLIAM MEAD 

to be ravished, our Children slaved, our 
Families ruined, and our Estates led away 
in Triumph, by every sturdy Beggar and 
malicious Informer, as their Trophies, but 
our (pretended) Forfeits for Conscience 
sake. The Lord of Heaven and Earth v^ill 
be Judge between us in this Matter. 

Rec. Be silent there. 

Pen. I am not to be silent in a Case 
wherein I am so much concerned, and 
not only my self, but many ten thousand 
Families besides. 

Obser. They having rudely haled him 
into the Bale-dock, William Mead they left 
in Court, who spake as followeth. 

Mead. You Men of the Jury, here I do 
now stand, to answer to an Indictment 
against me, which is a Bundle of Stuff, full 
of Lyes and Falshoods; for therein I am 
accused, that I met Vi & armis, illicit e & 
tumultuose: Time was, when I had Free- 
dom to use a carnal Weapon, and then I 
thought I feared no Man; but now I fear 
the Living God, and dare not make use 
thereof, nor hurt any Man; nor do I know 
I demeaned my self as a tumultuous Person : 
I say, I am a peaceable Man, therefore it 
is a very proper Question what William 
[15] 



THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 

Penn demanded in this Case, An Oyer 
of the Law, in which our Indictment is 
grounded. 

Rec. I have made Answer to that al- 
ready. 

Mead. Turning his Face to the Jury, 
saith, you Men of the Jury, who are my 
Judges, if the Recorder will not tell you 
what makes a Riot, a Rout, or an unlawful 
Assembly, Cook, he that once they called 
the Lord Cook^ tells us what makes a Riot, 

a Rout, and an unlawful Assembly 

A Riot is when three, or more, are met 
together to beat a Man, or to enter forcibly 
into another Man's Land, to cut down his 
Grass, his Wood, or break down his Pales. 

Obser. Here the Recorder interrupted 
him, and said, I thank you Sir, that you 
will tell me what the Law is, scornfully 
pulling off his Hat. 

Mead. Thou mayst put on thy Hat, I 
have never a Free for thee now. 

Brown. He talks at random, one while 
an Independent, another while some other 
Religion, and now a Quaker, and next a 
Papist. 

Mead. Turpe est doctori cum culpa 
redarguit ad ipsum. 

[i6] 



AND WILLIAM MEAD 

May. You deserve to have your Tongue 
cut out. 

Rec. If you discourse on this Manner, 
I shall take Occasion against you. 

Mead. Thou didst promise me, I should 
have fair Liberty to be heard; why may I 
not have the Privilege of an Englishman? 
I am an Englishman, and you might be 
ashamed of this dealing. 

Rec. I look upon you to be an Enemy 
to the Laws of England^ which ought to be 
observed and kept, nor are you worthy of 
such Privileges, as others have. 

Mead. The Lord is Judge between me 
and thee in this Matter. 

Obser. Upon which they took him away 
into the Bale-dock, and the Recorder pro- 
ceeded to give the Jury their Charge, as 
followeth. 

Rec. You have heard what the Indict- 
ment is. It is for preaching to the People, 
and drawing a tumultuous Company after 
them, and Mr. Penn was speaking; if they 
should not be disturbed, you see they will 
go on; there are three or four Witnesses 
that have proved this, that he did preach 
there; that Mr. Mead did allow of it; after 
this, you have heard by substantial Wit- 
[17] 



THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 

nesses what is said against them: Now we 
are upon the Matter of Fact, which you are 
to keep to, and observe, as what hath been 
fully sworn, at your Peril. 

Obser. The Prisoners were put out of 
the Court into the Bale-dock, and the 
Charge given to the Jury in their Absence, 
at which W. P. with a very raised Voice, it 
being a considerable distance from the 
Bench, spake. 

Pen. I appeal to the Jury, who are my 
Judges, and this great Assembly, whether 
the Proceedings of the Court are not most 
Arbitrary, and void of all Law, in offering 
to give the Jury their Charge in the Absence 
of the Prisoners; I say, it is directly op- 
posite to, and destructive of, the undoubted 
Right of every English Prisoner, as Cook 
in the 2 Instit, 29. on the Chap, of Magna 
Charta^ speaks. 

Obser. The Recorder being thus unex- 
pectedly lash'd for his extrajudicial Pro- 
cedure, said, with an inraged Smile. 

Rec. Why, ye are present, you do hear, 
do you not? 

Pen. No thanks to the Court, that com- 
manded me into the Bale-dock; and you of 
the Jury take notice, that I have not been 
[18] 



AND WILLIAM MEAD 

heard, neither can you legally depart the 
Court, before I have been fully heard, 
having at least ten or twelve material 
Points to offer, in order to invalid their 
Indictment. 

Rec. Pull that Fellow down, pull him 
down. 

Mead. Are these according to the Rights 
and Privileges of Englishmen^ that we 
should not be heard, but turned into the 
Bale-dock, for making our Defence, and 
the Jury to have their Charge given them 
in our Absence; I say these are barbarous 
and unjust Proceedings. 

Rec. Take them away into the Hole: 
To hear them talk all Night, as they would, 
that I think doth not become the Honour 
of the Court, and I think you (i. e. the Jury) 
your selves would be tired out, and not have 
Patience to hear them. 

Obser. The Jury were commanded up 
to agree upon their Verdict, the Prisoners 
remaining in the stinking Hole. After an 
Hour and half's time eight came down 
agreed, but four remained above ; the Court 
sent an Officer for them, and they accord- 
ingly came down. The Bench used many 
unworthy Threats to the four that dissented ; 

[19] 



THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 

and the Recorder, addressing himself to 
Bushel, said, Sir, You are the Cause of this 
Disturbance, and manifestly shew your self 
an Abettor of Faction; I shall set a Mark 
upon you^ Sir. 

J. Robinson. Mr. Bushel, I have known 
you near this fourteen Years; you have 
thrust your self upon this Jury, because you 
think there is some Service for you. I tell 
you, you deserve to be indicted more than 
any Man that hath been brought to the Bar 
this Day. 

Bushel. No, Sir John^ there were 
threescore before me, and I would willingly 
have got off, but could not. 

Bloodw. I said, when I saw Mr. Bushel, 
what I see is come to pass, for I knew he 
would never yield. Mr. Bushel^ we know 
what you are. 

May. Sirrah, you are an impudent 
Fellow, I will put a Mark upon you. 

Obser. They used much menacing Lan- 
guage, and behaved themselves very im- 
periously to the Jury, as Persons not more 
void of Justice than sober Education: After 
this barbarous Usage, they sent them to con- 
sider of bringing in their Verdict, and after 
some considerable time they returned to the 
[20] 



AND WILLIAM MEAD 

Court. Silence was call'd for, and the Jury 
call'd by their Names. 

Cler. Are you agreed upon your Ver- 
dict? 

Jury. Yes. 

Cler. Who shall speak for you? 

Jury. Our Fore-man. 

Cler. Look upon the Prisoners at the 
Bar. How say you? Is William Penn 
Guilty of the Matter whereof he stands 
indicted in Manner and Form, or Not 
Guilty? 

Fore-m. Guilty of Speaking in Grace- 
church-Street. 

Court. Is that all? 

FORE-M. That is all I have in Com- 
mission. 

Rec. You had as good say nothing. 

May. Was it not an unlawful Assembly? 
You mean he was speaking to a Tumult of 
People there? 

FoRE-M. My Lord, This is all I had in 
Commission. 

Obser. Here some of the Jury seemed 
to buckle to the Questions of the Court; 
upon which, Bushel^ Hammond^ and some 
others, opposed themselves, and said, they 
allowed of no such Word, as an unlawful 

[21] 



THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 

Assembly in their Verdict; at which the 
Recorder, Mayor, Robinsoji and Blood- 
worth took great occasion to villifie them 
with most opprobrious Language; and this 
Verdict not serving their Turns, the Re- 
corder express'd himself thus. 

Rec. The Law of England will not 
allow you to part till you have given in 
your Verdict. 

Jury. We have given in our Verdict, 
and we can give in no other. 

Rec. Gentlemen, you have not given in 
your Verdict, and you had as good say 
nothing; therefore go and consider it once 
more, that we may make an end of this 
troublesome Business. 

Jury. We desire we may have Pen, Ink 
and Paper. 

Obser. The Court adjournM for half 
an Hour; which being expired, the Court 
returns, and the Jury not long after. 

The Prisoners were brought to the Bar, 
and the Jury's Names called over. 

Cler. Are you agreed of your Verdict? 

JUR. Yes. 

Cler. Who shall speak for you? 

JUR. Our Fore-man. 

Cler. What say you, look upon the 

[22] 



AND WILLIAM MEAD 

Prisoners: Is William Penn Guilty in Man- 
ner and Form, as he stands indicted, or Not 
Guilty? 

FORE-M. Here is our Verdict, holding 
forth a piece of Paper to the Clerk of the 
Peace, which follows; 

We the Jurors, hereafter named, do find 
William Penn to be Guilty of Speaking or 
Preaching to an Assembly, met together 
in Gracechurch-Street, the 14th of August 
last, l6jo. And that William Mead is Not 
guilty of the said Indictment, 

Fore-m. Thomas Veer^ Charles Milson, 

Edward Bushel, Gregory Walklet, 

John Hammond, John Baily, 

Henry Henley, William Lever, 

Henry Michel, James Damask, 

John Brightman, Wil. Plumsted. 

Obser. This both Mayor and Recorder 
resented as so high a rate, that they exceeded 
the Bounds of all Reason and Civility. 

May. What will you be led by such a 
silly Fellow as Bushel? an impudent cant- 
ing Fellow? I warrant you, you shall come 
no more upon Juries in haste: You are a 
Fore-man indeed, addressing himself to the 
Fore-man, I thought you had understood 
your Place better. 

[23] 



THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 

Rec. Gentlemen, you shall not be dis- 
mist till we have a Verdict, that the Court 
will accept; and you shall be lock'd up, 
without Meat, Drink, Fire, and Tobacco; 
you shall not think thus to abuse the Court; 
we will have a Verdict, by the help of God, 
or you shall starve for it. 

Pen. My Jury, who are my Judges, 
ought not to be thus menaced ; their Verdict 
should be free, and not compelled ; the 
Bench ought to wait upon them, but not 
forestall them. I do desire that Justice 
may be done me, and that the Arbitrary 
Resolves of the Bench may not be made the 
Measure of my Jury's Verdict. 

Rec. Stop that prating Fellow's Mouth, 
or put him out of the Court. 

May. You have heard that he preach'd, 
that he gathered a Company of tumultuous 
People, and that they do not only disobey 
the Martial Power, but Civil also. 

Pen. It is a great Mistake; we did not 
make the Tumult, but they that interrupted 
us: The Jury cannot be so ignorant, as to 
think, that we met there, with a Design to 
disturb the Civil Peace, since (ist.) we 
were by Force of Arms kept out of our law- 
ful House, and met as near it in the Street, 
[24] 



AND WILLIAM MEAD 

as their soldiers would give us leave; and 
(adly.) because it v^as no new thing (nor 
with the Circumstances expres'd in the In- 
dictment) but what was usual and customary 
with us; 'tis very well known that we are 
a peaceable People, and cannot offer Vio- 
lence to any Man. 

Obser. The Court being ready to break 
up, and willing to huddle the Prisoners to 
their Goal, and the Jury to their Chamber, 
Penn spoke as follows: 

Pen. The Agreement of Twelve Men 
is a Verdict in Law, and such a one being 
given by the Jury, I require the Clerk of 
the Peace to record it, as he will answer it 
at his Peril. And if the Jury bring in an- 
other Verdict contradictory to this, I affirm 
they are perjur'd Men in Law. And look- 
ing upon the Jury, said. You are English- 
men^ mind your Privilege, give not away 
your Right. 

Bush. &c. Nor will we ever do it. 

Obser. One of the Jury-men pleaded 
Indisposition of Body, and therefore de- 
sired to be dismist. 

May. You are as strong as any of 
them; starve with them; and hold your 
Principles. 

[25] 



THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 

Rec. Gentlemen, You must be contented 
with your hard Fate, let your Patience over- 
come it; for the Court is resolved to have 
a Verdict, and that before you can be 
dismist. 

Jury. We are agreed, we are agreed, 
we are agreed. 

Obser. The Court swore several Per- 
sons, to keep the Jury all Night without 
Meat, Drink, Fire, or any other Accommo- 
dation; they had not so much as a Chamber- 
pot, tho' desired. 

Cry. O Yes, &c, 

Obser. The Court adjourns till Seven 
of the Clock next Morning (being the 4th 
Instant, vulgarly call'd Sunday) at which 
time the Prisoners were brought to the Bar : 
The Court sat, and the Jury called to bring 
in their Verdict. 

Cry. O Yes, &c. Silence in the 

Court, upon pain of Imprisonment. 

The Jury's Names called over. 

Cler. Are you agreed upon your Ver- 
dict? 

JUR. Yes. 

Cler. Who shall speak for you? 

JUR. Our Fore-man. 

Cler. What say you? Look upon the 
[26] 



AND WILLIAM MEAD 

Prisoners at the Bar. Is William Penn 
Guilty of the Matter whereof he stands in- 
dicted, in Manner and Form as aforesaid, 
or Not guilty? 

FORE-M. William Penn is guilty of 
Speaking in Gracechurch-Street, 

May. To an unlawful Assembly? 

Bush. No, my Lord, we give no other 
Verdict than what we gave last Night; we 
have no other Verdict to give. 

May. You are a factious Fellow, I'll 
take a Course with you. 

Blood. I knew Mr. Bushel would not 
yield. 

Bush. Sir Thomas I have done accord- 
ing to my Conscience. 

May. That Conscience of yours would 
cut my Throat. 

Bush. No, my Lord, it never shall. 

May. But I will cut yours so soon as 
I can. 

Rec. He has inspired the Jury; he has 
the Spirit of Divination, methinks I feel 
him. I will have a positive Verdict, or 
you shall starve for it. 

Pen. I desire to ask the Recorder one 
Question, Do you allow of the Verdict 
given of William Mead? 
[27] 



THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 

Rec. It cannot be a Verdict, because 
you were indicted for a Conspiracy, and 
one being found Not guilty, and not the 
other, it could not be a Verdict. 

Pen. If Not guilty be not a Verdict, 
then you make of the Jury and Magna 
Charta but a meer Nose of Wax. 

Mead. How! is Not guilty no Verdict? 

Rec. No, 'tis no Verdict. 

Pen. I affirm, that the Consent of a Jury 
is a Verdict in Law; and if William Mead 
be Not guilty, it consequently follows, that 
I am clear, since you have indicted us of a 
Conspiracy, and I could not possibly con- 
spire alone. 

Obser. There were many Passages, that 
could not be taken, which past between the 
Jury and the Court. The Jury went up 
again, having received a fresh Charge from 
the Bench, if possible to extort an unjust 
Verdict. 

Cry. O Yes, &c. Silence in the Court. 

COUR. Call over the Jury. Which was 
done. 

Cler. What say you? Is William Penn 
Guilty of the Matter whereof he stands in- 
dicted, in Manner and Form aforesaid, or 
Not Guilty? 

[28] 



AND WILLIAM MEAD 

Fore-man. Guilty of speaking in Grace- 
church-Streetc 

Rec. What is this to the Purpose? I 
say, I will have a Verdict. And speaking 
to Edw. Bushel^ said, You are a factious 
Fellow; I will set a Mark upon you; and 
whilst I have anything to do in the City, 
I will have an eye upon you. 

May. Have you no more Wit than to 
be led by such a pitiful Fellow? I will cut 
his Nose. 

Pen. It is intolerable that my Jury 
should be thus menaced: Is this according 
to the Fundamental Laws? Are not they 
my proper Judges by the great Charter of 
England? What hope is there of ever hav- 
ing Justice done, when Juries are threat- 
ened, and their Verdicts rejected? I am 
concerned to speak and grieved to see such 
Arbitrary Proceedings. Did not the Lieu- 
tenant of the Tower render one of them 
worse than a Felon? And do you not 
plainly seem to condemn such for factious 
Fellows, who answer not your Ends? Un- 
happy are those Juries, who are threatened 
to be fined, and starved, and ruined, if they 
give not in Verdicts contrary to their Con- 
sciences. 

[29] 



THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 

Rec. My Lord, you must take a Course 
with that same Fellow. 

May. Stop his Mouth; Jaylor, bring 
Fetters, and stake him to the Ground. 

Pen. Do your Pleasure, I matter not 
your Fetters. 

Rec. Till now I never understood the 
Reason of the Policy and Prudence of the 
Spaniards, in suffering the Inquisition 
among them: And certainly it will never 
be well with us, till something like unto the 
Spanish Inquisition be in England. 

Obser. The Jury being required to go 
together to find another Verdict, and stead- 
fastly refusing it (saying they could give no 
other Verdict than what was already given) 
the Recorder in great Passion was running 
off the Bench, with these Words in his 
Mouth, / protest I will sit here no longer 
to hear these Things; at which the Mayor 
calling, Stay^ stay^ he returned, and directed 
himself unto the Jury, and spoke as fol- 
io we th : 

Rec. Gentlemen, we shall not be at this 
trade always with you; you will find the 
next Sessions of Parliament there will be a 
Law made, that those that will not conform 
shall not have the Protection of the Law. 
[30] 



AND WILLIAM MEAD 

Mr. Lee^ draw up another Verdict, that 
they may bring it in speciaL 

Lee. I cannot tell how to do it. 

JUR. We ought not to be returned, hav- 
ing all agreed, and set our Hands to the 
Verdict. 

Rec. Your Verdict is nothing, you 
play upon the Court; I say you shall go to- 
gether, and bring in another Verdict, or 
you shall starve; and I will have you 
charted about the City, as in Edward the 
Third's time. 

FORE-M. We have given in our Verdict, 
and all agreed to it; and if we give in an- 
other, it will be a Force upon us to save our 
Lives. 

May. Take them up. 

Offic. My Lord, they will not go up. 

Obser. The Mayor spoke to the Sheriff, 
and he came off of his seat, and said. 

Sher. Come, Gentlemen, you must go 
up; you see I am commanded to make 
you go. 

Obser. Upon which the Jury went up ; 
and several sworn to keep them without 
any Accommodation, as aforesaid, till they 
brought in their Verdict. 

Cry. O yes, &c. The Court adjourns 
[31] 



THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 

till to Morrow Morning, at seven of the 
Clock. 

Obser. The Prisoners were remanded 
to Newgate, where they remained till next 
Morning, and then were brought unto the 
Court, which being sat, they proceeded as 
foil owe th. 

Cry. O yes, &c. Silence in the Court, 
upon pain of Imprisonment. 

Cler. Set William Penn and William 
Mead to the Bar. Gentlemen of the Jury, 
answer to your Names: TAo, Veer^ Edw. 
Bushel, John Hammond, Henry Henly, 
Henry Michell, John Brightman, Charles 
Milson, Gregory Walklet, John Baily, Wil- 
liam Leaver, James Damask, William 
Plumstead. Are you all agreed of your 
Verdict? 

JUR. Yes. 

Cler. Who shall speak for you? 

JUR. Our Fore-man. 

Cler. Look upon the Prisoners. What 
say you? Is William Penn Guilty of the 
Matter whereof he stands indicted, in Man- 
ner and Form, &c., or Not Guilty? 

Fore-man. Here is our Verdict in 
Writing, and our Hands subscribed. 

Obser. The Clerk took the paper, but 
[32] 



AND WILLIAM MEAD 

was stopt by the Recorder from reading of 
it; and he commanded to ask for a positive 
Verdict. 

Fore-man. That is our Verdict; we 
have subscribed to it. 

Cler. How say you? Is William Penn 
Guilty, &c., or Not Guilty? 

Fore-man. Not guilty. 

Cler. How say you? Is William Mead 
Guilty, &c., or Not Guilty? 

FoRE-MAN. Not guilty. 

Cler. Then hearken to your Verdict; 
you say that William Penn is Not Guilty 
in Manner and Form as he stands indicted; 
you say that JVilliam Mead is Not guilty in 
Manner and Form as he stands indicted, 
and so you say all? 

JUR. Yes, we do so. 

Obser. The Bench being unsatisfied 
with the Verdict, commanded that every 
Person should distinctly answer to their 
Names, and give in their Verdict, which 
they unanimously did, in saying. Not Guilty, 
to the great Satisfaction of the Assembly. 

Rec. I am sorry. Gentlemen, you have 
followed your own Judgments and Opin- 
ions, rather than the good and wholsome 
Advice, which was given you; God keep 

[33] 



THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 

my Life out of your Hands ; but for this the 
Court Fines you forty Mark a Man; and 
Imprisonment till paid. At which Penn 
stept up towards the Bench, and said: 

Pen. I demand my Liberty, being freed 
by the Jury. 

May. No, you are in for your Fines. 

Pen. Fines, for what? 

May. For contempt of the Court. 

Pen. I ask, if it be according to the 
Fundamental Laws of England, that any 
English-Man should be Fined or Amerced, 
but by the Judgment of his Peers or Jury; 
since it expressly contradicts the fourteenth 
and twenty-ninth Chap, of the great Char- 
ter of England^ which say, No Free-Man 
ought to be amerced, but by the Oath of 
good and Lawful Men of the Vicinage. 

Rec. Take him away, Take him away, 
take him out of the Court, 

Pen. I can never urge the Fundamental 
Laws of England^ but you cry. Take him 
away, take him away. But it is no wonder, 
Since the Spanish Inquisition hath so great 
a place in the Recorder s Heart. God Al- 
mighty, who is just, will judge you all for 
these things. 

Obser. They haled the Prisoners into 
[34] 



AND WILLIAM MEAD 

the Bale-dock, and from thence sent them to 
Newgate^ for Non-payment of their Fines; 
and so were their Jury, 

L'ENVOIE 

So ended the "TryaL" The contuma- 
cious jurors did not long remain in duress. 
The pertinacious Bushel, being a man of 
substance, took steps to legally rescue him- 
self and fellows, and soon succeeded. The 
affair had an important after echo at the 
trial in New York, of John Peter Zenger, 
the Palatine Printer, in 1735, for libelling 
Governor William Cosby, by telling the 
truth about his infringement of popular 
liberty, when the attempted forcing of the 
Penn jury was powerfully employed by 
Andrew Hamilton, attorney for the de- 
fense, to curb the efforts of Mr. Justice De 
Lancey to coerce the twelve. In his re- 
markable address — an address that solidi- 
fied the foundation for liberty of the press 
and free speech on this continent and was 
a worthy preface to the Declaration of In- 
dependence drawn some forty years later — 
Hamilton said, concerning this "Tryal": 

''Mr. Penn and Mead being Quakers, 
and having met in a peaceable Manner, 
[35] 



THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 

after being shut out of their Meeting House, 
preached in Grace Church Street^ in Lon- 
don^ to the People of their own Perswasion, 
and for this they were indicted; and it was 
said, That they with other Persons, to the 
Number of JOO, unlawfully and tumultu- 
ously assembled, to the Disturbance of the 
Peace, &c. To which they pleaded Not 
Guilty, And the Petit Jury being sworn to 
try the Issue between the King and the 
Prisoners, that is, whether they were Guilty, 
according to the Form of the Indictment? 
Here there was no Dispute but they were 
assembled together, to the Number men- 
tioned in the Indictment; But Whether that 
Meeting together was riotously, tumultu- 
ously, and to the Disturbance of the Peace? 
was the Question. And the Court told the 
Jury it was, and ordered the Jury to find it 
so; For (said the Court) the Meeting was 
the Matter of Fact, and that is confessed, 
and we tell you it is unlawful, for it is 
against the Statute; and the Meeting being 
unlawful, it follows of Course that it was 
tumultuous, and to the Disturbance of the 
Peace. But the Jury did not think fit to 
take the Court's Word for it, for they could 
neither find Riot, Tumulty or any Thing 
[36] 



3477-251 
Lot-3fi 



AND WILLIAM MEAD 

tending to the Breach of the Peace com- 
mitted at that Meeting; and they acquitted 
Mr. Penn and Mead. In doing of which 
they took upon them to judge both the Law 
and the Fact^ at which the Court (being 
themselves true Cortiers) were so much 
offended, that they fined the Jury 40 Marks 
a piece, and committed them till paid. But 
Mr. Bushel^ who valued the Right of a 
Juryman and the Liberty of his Country 
more than his own, refused to pay the Fine, 
and was resolved (tho' at a great Expence 
and trouble too) to bring, and did bring, 
his Habeas Corpus^ to be relieved from his 
Fine and Imprisonment, and he was re- 
leased accordingly; and this being the Judg- 
ment in his Case, it is established for Law, 
That the Judges, how great soever they be, 
have no Right to Fine, imprison, or punish 
a Jury, for not finding a Verdict according 
to the Direction of the Court. And this I 
hope is sufficient to prove. That Jurymen 
are to see with their own Eyes, to hear with 
their own Ears, and to make use of their 
own Consciences and the Understandings, 
in judging of the Lives, Liberties or Estates 
of their Fellow Subjects." 

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